Title: Ghostwritten

Author: Ronald Malfi

Release date: October 4th, 2022

Firstly, huge thanks to Netgalley, Ronald Malfi and Titan Books for approving me for a digital ARC!

Malfi struck gold with ‘Come With Me’ his novel that came out just last year, Summer 2021. Imagine our surprise when it was then announced that we would be getting not one, but two releases from him in 2022. First up was the fantastic ‘Black Mouth.’ And now, here we are with ‘Ghostwritten.’

‘Ghostwritten’ is a collection of four novellas that can either be digested individually, or read as four parts to a longer story all interconnected through the mysterious books that take center stage and the horrible events surrounding the books. Malfi covers a lot of ground in these ones and it shows just how solid and capable of a writer he is that none of them felt repetitive when held up in comparison to the other’s within here.

What I liked: We start off with a bang – ‘The Skin of her Teeth’ is both a straightforward story of a book that drives people to madness and death. Taken at face value, we follow as an agent desperately tries to save a huge deal between her client and a movie studio, as her client is tasked with writing the screenplay. It could also be taken as a metaphor to the writer’s grind of trying to make a deadline and feeling all consumed by a project.

Either way, Malfi gives us creeps and tension which all comes to a head and will leave you breathless.

Next up, we get ‘The Dark Brother’s Last Ride.’ This was a fun one, revolving around two hired goons tasked with transporting a briefcase and given some simple rules. Follow the map exactly. Don’t open the case. Don’t touch what’s inside. Ignore anyone asking about it. It made for really fun trip.

Third was ‘This Book Belongs to Olo.’ First – the cover of this collection relates to this story, which really heightens the insanity you’ll find within. Second – this was my favorite story within the collection. Almost a YA-Fantasy novella that has tinges of Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro, Malfi introduces us to Olo, a lonely child who has no friends and lives in a mansion with his stepdad and mom. Both are preoccupied with their own careers to even care about Olo, so he decides to find a way to make friends. I almost wish this particular one was illustrated or maybe one day we get a stop-motion movie out of him akin to James and the Giant Peach. I can’t rave more about this one without going into spoiler territory, but really loved this one.

Lastly, we finish with ‘The Story,’ which goes in so many different directions. Malfi manages to hold it together and close out with a strong finish.

What I didn’t like: While I enjoyed them all, I did find ‘The Dark Brother’s Last Ride’ to be the one that didn’t click with me as much and I think a part of that is my own personal reasons. I’m not a huge fan of mob stories, gangsters etc and this starts off with that aspect and then goes from there. It is fun and solid, but not completely my cup of tea.

Why you should buy this: Malfi continues to deliver and showing why so many people rave about his work. Throughout we get solid storylines, great characters and horrifying events – all the while tied together thematically from start to finish. Really well done and definitely a place where new fans can dive in, while old fans will be more than happy with what they read.

4/5